Abstract
In the modern world, the most influential result of continuing efforts to fashion a historical understanding is the idea of progress. It is perhaps the most characteristic and pervasive theme in modern Western thought. The idea of progress can be considered as both a historical fact and a moral ideal. As a historical fact the idea of progress is "an interpretation of history," whereas as a moral ideal it becomes "a dynamic power." In both cases, the idea of progress is itself a product of history, and it has been part of most of the great political and intellectual movements for two hundred years. However, it has declined and even become an exploded myth in the last century. The idea of progress is a concept to be studied not only as a historical phenomenon but also as a category of historiography. This article discusses progress from both perspectives, emphasizing the tension between the moral ideal and the historical fact and the disillusion of the progressive myth in the 20th century.